America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

8766

Innsbrucker Nachrichten (July 17, 1944)

Englischer Großangriff bei Caen zurückgeschlagen

Heftige Abwehrschlacht im Südabschnitt der Ostfront – Bandenzentrum auf dem Balkan gesäubert – Anglo-amerikanische Terrorangriffe

dnb. Führerhauptquartier, 17. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Südwestlich Caen traten englische Divisionen gestern erneut zum Großangriff an. Schwerstes Artilleriefeuer von Land und von See her unterstützte die feindlichen Angriffe. Es gelang dem Gegner, in einige dicht hinter unseren Linien liegende Ortschaften einzudringen. Sofortige Gegenstöße unserer Reserven warfen ihn zurück. In einer Einbruchsstelle wird noch gekämpft. 58 Panzer wurden dort abgeschossen. Im Raum von Saint-Lô und im Abschnitt westlich der Vire führte der Gegner Infolge der hohen Verluste an den Vortagen nur schwächere Angriffe, die erfolglos blieben.

Vor der niederländischen Küste beschädigten Vorpostenboote ein britisches Schnellboot schwer. Mit seinem Untergang ist zu rechnen.

Bei einem Säuberungsunternehmen im südfranzösischen Raum wurden 460 Terroristen im Kampf niedergemacht.

Das schwere Feuer der „V1“ liegt weiterhin auf dem Großraum von London.

In Italien lag der Schwerpunkt der Kämpfe gestern nordöstlich Volterra, bei Arezzo und beiderseits des Tiber. Während alle mit zusammengefassten Kräften geführten Angriffe verlustreich für den Feind abgewiesen wurden, gingen die Trümmer der Stadt Arezzo nach erbittertem Kampf verloren.

Sicherungsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine schossen vor der italienischen Westküste ein britisches Schnellboot in Brand und zwangen weitere zum Abdrehen.

Im Südabschnitt der Ostfront nahm die Abwehrschlacht östlich des oberen Bug an Heftigkeit zu. In schweren wechselvollen Kämpfen wurden die aus dem Raum von Tarnopol und Luzk angreifenden sowjetischen Panzerkräfte aufgefangen. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden hier 125 feindliche Panzer vernichtet.

Zwischen Pripjet und Düna hielten die harten Kämpfe auf breiter Front an. Am Njemen vereitelten unsere Divisionen mehrere Durchbruchsversuche der Bolschewisten. Bei Grodno setzten sich unsere Truppen nach planmäßiger Räumung der Stadt auf das Westufer des Njemen ab.

Im Seengebiet südlich der Düna brachen wiederholte Angriffe des Feindes verlustreich zusammen. Zwischen Düna und Peipussee scheiterten auch gestern zahlreiche Angriffe der Sowjets. Nur im Einbruchsraum südlich Opotschka konnte der Feind nach wechselvollen Kämpfen Boden gewinnen.

Die Luftwaffe griff an den Schwerpunkten mit starken Schlachtfliegergeschwadern in die Abwehrschlacht ein und fügte den Bolschewisten in Tiefangriffen hohe Verluste zu. Zahlreiche Panzer, Geschütze und über 400 Fahrzeuge des Feindes wurden vernichtet. In heftigen Luftkämpfen wurden 88 feindliche Flugzeuge, durch Flakartillerie 9 weitere abgeschossen.

Auf dem Balkan wurde ein größeres Bandenzentrum nach harten Kämpfen gesäubert. Die Kommunisten verloren weit über 1400 Tote und zahlreiche Gefangene. Zahlreiche leichte und schwere Waffen, 19 Lager sowie große Mengen an Munition und Kriegsgerät aller Art wurden vernichtet oder erbeutet.

Vor der südnorwegischen Küste schossen Sicherungsfahrzeuge eines deutschen Geleits und Bordflak von Handelsschiffen sechs britische Bomber ab.

Nordamerikanische Bomberverbände griffen mehrere Orte in Süd- und Südwestdeutschland an, unter anderem Saarbrücken, Augsburg und mit stärkeren Kräften München. Besonders in München, gegen das der Feind innerhalb von fünf Tagen bei für die eigene Abwehr ungünstiger Wetterlage vier Großangriffe führte, entstanden zum Teil empfindliche Schäden und Verluste. Die Haltung der Bevölkerung war vorbildlich.

Ein, weiterer von Süden einfliegender nordamerikanischer Bomberverband griff Wien an. Auch hier entstanden Schäden im Stadtgebiet und Personenverluste. Durch Luftverteidigungskräfte wurden 43 feindliche Flugzeuge vernichtet.

In der Nacht warfen einzelne britische Flugzeuge Bomben im rheinisch-westfälischen Raum.

8767

Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (July 17, 1944)

Communiqué No. 83

Allied forces have made progress in the south of LE-HOMMET-D’ARTHENAY and PONT-HÉBERT. Our troops have established and widened a bridgehead across the LOZON River. Other small gains have been made against heavy enemy resistance. Allied pressure north and east of SAINT-LÔ continues.

The village of CAHIER in the TILLY–ÉVRECY sector has been taken. About three miles west of CAHIER, our forces have advanced southward, against fierce enemy resistance, to the vicinity of NOYERS on the CAEN–VILLERS-BOCAGE railroad.

Communications were principal targets for the Allied air forces from noon yesterday until dawn.

Medium bombers severed the steel rail bridge at NANTES and fired a fuel dump in the forest of GUERCHES, south of RENNES.

Bridges at SAINT-HILAIRE-DU-HARCOUËT and at L’AIGLE were attacked by light bombers.

Rail facilities in the PARIS area were hit by fighter-bombers which inflicted considerable damage to rolling stock and tracks.

Communiqué No. 84

Pressure by the Allied Forces has led to further minor penetrations in the enemy positions in NORMANDY.

Some of our patrols are across the flooded basin of the AY River near LESSAY, and to the east, just north of PÉRIERS, LES MILLERIES has been taken after a short advance.

We are threatening the lateral road PÉRIERS–SAINT-LÔ in the vicinity of LE MESNIL-VIGOT after taking REMILLY-SUR-LOZON. Our patrols are now east and southeast of ÉVRECY, although we have not occupied the town.

Strong forces of heavy bombers this morning attacked railway yards at BELFORT and more than a dozen river bridges in a wide circle around PARIS, including bridges over the LOIRE, YONNE, AILETTE and SOMME Rivers. Fighters which escorted the heavy bombers also attacked locomotives, railway cars and motor transport.

Medium bombers, one of which is missing, bombed a fuel dump at RENNES while fighters and fighter bombers attacked rail facilities in the ALENÇON, ARGENTAN, DOMFRONT, and NONANT areas and troops behind the enemy lines.

8768

U.S. Navy Department (July 17, 1944)

CINCPAC Press Release No. 477

For Immediate Release
July 17, 1944

Gun emplacements and other defense installations on Guam Island were heavily shelled by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers of the Pacific Fleet on July 15 (West Longitude Date). Enemy shore batteries returned sporadic fire but did no damage to our surface ships.

On July 16, aircraft of a fast carrier task group obtained direct hits on an airfield at Rota Island, bombed barracks, and destroyed a bridge. On the same day, Guam was subjected to further carrier aircraft attacks, resulting in damage to antiaircraft positions, barracks, and a radio station. Several fires were started by incendiary bombs and rockets. We lost one dive bomber in these operations.

Param Island in Truk Atoll was attacked by 7th Army Air Force Liberators on July 15. Hits were obtained on antiaircraft positions. Approximately 10 enemy fighters attempted interception, dropping bombs from above our formation. These bombs were ineffective, but one Liberator received minor damage from machine-gun fire. One Zero fighter was probably shot down, and three were damaged. Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked Wotje and Mille Atolls on July 15. Enemy anti-aircraft positions were hit.

8769

The Pittsburgh Press (July 17, 1944)

YANKS SMASH INTO SAINT-LÔ
Bradley’s men close arc on Nazi keystone

Americans also cut Périers–Saint-Lô road
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

map.071744.up
Drive of U.S. patrol into Saint-Lô highlighted news from Normandy today. Other U.S. forces stormed approaches to Lessay (1). The Yanks cut the Périers–Saint-Lô highway by driving into the village of Les Mesnil-Vigot (2). The Nazis were expected to make a street-to-street fight in Saint-Lô (3). In the Caen area, the British drove into Noyers and Évrecy after gains of nearly three miles (4).

SHAEF, London, England –
U.S. patrols smashed into Saint-Lô today, bringing the central keystone of the German line in Normandy almost within the Allied grasp, and other U.S. assault forces stormed the near approaches of Périers and Lessay.

British forces waging a new offensive below Caen battered forward several hundred yards after gains of two-and-a-half miles yesterday in extremely heavy fighting and drove into the key villages of Noyers and Évrecy, wresting parts of each from the German defenders.

Clamp siege arc

Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley’s U.S. 1st Army clamped a siege arc tightly against Saint-Lô, its prongs probing the near German fortifications southeast and northwest of the town, while advanced elements broke the Nazi crust to penetrate the rubble-strewn streets.

Other U.S. forces closing against the two remaining anchor bases of the German defenses facing the American front, captured a village a mile northwest of Périers, and seized a flooded area of Lessay to bring that town under direct attack from three sides.

Five miles southwest of Périers, the Americans cut the arterial highway to Saint-Lô, the backbone of the entire German defense line fronting the Americans, by a drive to the village of Le Mesnil-Vigot.

Bayonets and grenades

The assault which laid open the fortifications in the outskirts of Saint-Lô was launched at 4:30 a.m. (local time) today. The doughboys clambered out of their foxholes and hedgerows with bayonets flashing and grenades flying.

Taken by surprise because of the absence of artillery preparation, the Germans reeled back, and the American assault rolled fast in its early stages, United Press writer James McGlincy reported from the front.

This dispatch sent at 2:50 p.m. said they had reached the outskirts of Saint-Lô in a push down the highway from the northeast, where they struck into the “City of the Future,” a modern housing project.

Sun breaks through

Thick mist prevented artillery observation and air support until 10:00 a.m. Then the sun broke through, and Thunderbolts swarmed in to lay a shower of bombs on the German positions, which were also rocked by round after round of artillery fire.

Saint-Lô, where Charlemagne once had fortifications and which German troops made into a sort of Cassino of the Western Front, was hugged in a strangling grip when the first foot patrols pushed across the city limits.

German paratroopers, the cream of the enemy infantry, were fighting with extreme tenacity for high ground northwest of Saint-Lô and to the south of the town. But U.S. patrols had been infiltrating well to the south of the town for some time.

High optimism reflected

High optimism was reflected in the official statement that until the remaining high ground around Saint-Lô is in American hands, the occupation of the town cannot be called complete.

Because of the importance the Germans attach to Saint-Lô, guardian of the road running southwest, they were expected to fight for it, street by street.

Some of the heaviest fighting on the British front since D-Day was reported in and around Noyers and Évrecy, four miles apart on opposite sides of the Odon River below Caen.

The British were punching southward in two parallel thrusts, holding some houses in the eastern part of Évrecy and at least the eastern portion of Noyers.

After capturing Hill 113, the British worked southeast across the Évrecy–Caen highway and had reached a point 500 yards southeast of the highway.

Fierce artillery barrage

United Press writer Richard D. McMillan reported from advanced British headquarters near Caen that big guns pounded the German positions between the Odon and Orne all night, converting them into what a staff officer described as “hell on earth.”

Mr. McMillan said the gun backing up the new push were of the “largest caliber” and arrived with heavy reinforcements from Britain in Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s systematic buildup of strength.

Mr. McMillan said:

We continued to make local gains elbowing the enemy out from clumps of woods, slowly but surely pushing our way toward the Caen plain from which we will find room and suitable terrain to carry out an armored battle.

Every house a pillbox

Every house in every village around Lessay has been converted into a pillbox manned by paratroops and picked units of Germany’s crack SS troops, United Press writer Henry T. Gorrell reported.

The Germans were using their “doodlebugs,” miniature remote-control tanks loaded with explosives, against the Americans in the Lessay sector, but with no more success than they enjoyed in Italy, Mr. Gorrell said.

The Americans also seized high ground east of Périers, third anchor of the German line in the American sector.

8770

Yanks two miles from Livorno

Troops set to storm port from east, south
By James E. Roper, United Press staff writer

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8771

British to send big force to aid MacArthur in 1944

Australian Premier gets Churchill promise of assistance in offensive against Japs

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8772

Guam attacked 12th straight day

17 Jap ships strafed by Navy Liberators

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8773

Wallace to get one ballot shot then curtains

Roosevelt to send endorsement letter
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

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8774

Wallace floors news cameraman, sits on chest, bargains for plate

Vice President angry over unwanted photo; handshakes follow hotel lobby battle

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8775

Bear chews off arm of girl as men fight him with fire

Zoo animal infuriated when awakened at 2:00 a.m. by celebrating socialites

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Six dead in fire in tunnel of love

Soldier saves lives with quick thinking

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8776

I DARE SAY —
He filled the shoes

By Florence Fisher Parry

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8777

Germans deport 450 from French town

Bern, Switzerland –
Latest news of French civilian tragedy comes from the little town of Tulle in Corrèze, France.

In the middle of June, Partisans occupied Tulle for 24 hours. Then SS troops (Elite Guards) entered the town.

For two days, the population lived in unspeakable terror. The massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane, near Limoges, fresh in their minds. Courageously, the Vichyite prefect intervened requesting that SS troops be recalled since “complete quiet prevailed.” So the SS were replaced by a German Army regiment.

Immediately 450 persons were arrested and deported to Germany.

8778

Jap Navy chief fired for defeats

Shimada ouster due to ‘grave situation’
By the United Press

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8779

Jap attackers isolated in South Pacific

Yanks hold solid line in New Guinea
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer

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Mortar kills Japs from 1,500 yards

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8780

France raided from British, Italian bases

U.S. heavies hit Nazi communications
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer

London, England –
U.S. heavy bombers struck from Britain and Italy today at German military installations and vital transport links scattered through France from the Channel coast to the lower Rhône Valley near the Mediterranean.

Some 750 heavies of the 8th Air Force swept out from Britain through musty weather over the Channel to hit supply dumps for flying bombs, bridges, and railyards feeding the Normandy battlefront.

Liberators of the 15th Air Force flew from Italian bases with a Mustang escort to hit three bridges and one rail hub in southern France. The Avignon, Tarascon and Arles bridges over the Rhône and the Avignon railyards were their targets.

Meet Nazi fighters

Moderate anti-aircraft fire and some enemy fighters were encountered in the attack aimed at the connecting links along 50 miles of the lower Rhône between the two main rail lines on either side of the river. Some enemy planes were shot down.

The daylight assaults, coming a few hours after British bombers pounded Germany’s dwindling oil supplies in coordinated night raids from the west and south, were made in generally unfavorable water.

More than a dozen railway bridges in a wide circle across Paris were attacked by small formations of bombers from Britain, while others went on to hit a flying bomb dump at Rilly La Montaigne, south of Rheims, and railyards at Belfort, about 35 miles west of Basie on the Swiss border.

Find clear spots

Despite the unfavorable weather, the bombers found clear spots in all the target areas and bombed visually between patches of drifting clouds.

The bombers were escorted by 500 to 750 Mustang, Lightning and Thunderbolt fighters. They were not challenged by German fighters.

The escorting fighters dived down to skim hedgerows in France and shoot up German targets, mostly trains.

Raid Ruhr Valley

RAF Mosquito bombers, flying from bases in Britain, struck into Germany’s Ruhr Valley to drop two-ton blockbusters on synthetic oil plants at Hamborn, near Duisburg, while Italian-based heavy bombers raided an oil refinery at Smederevo, near Belgrade in Yugoslavia.

The Mosquitoes also mined enemy waters, and the Air Ministry said the night operations from Britain were made without loss.

A force of 1,500 Flying Fortresses, Liberators and escorting fighters headed the Allied activities Sunday with a concentrated attack on Munich and the almost equally important rail center of Saarbrücken on the French border.

Hit robot bases

British Lancaster bombers continued the incessant campaign against flying bomb installations in northern France yesterday, while other warplanes hit German communications from the Paris area to behind the battlelines.

From the Italian front, nearly 500 Liberators and Flying Fortresses struck in Austria yesterday and fought their way through heavy cloud formations and more than 100 German fighters to bomb an airdrome and other military targets at Vienna.

Twenty-one German planes were shot down over the Austrian capital with a loss of 15 U.S. bombers.

8781

Priest leads U.S. troops in assault on French village

Cleric prevents barrage, sparing lives of civilians in Nazi-abandoned community
By Henry T. Gorrell, United Press staff writer

Saint-Germain, France – (July 16, delayed)
This is how a parish priest happened to lead the assault troops into the village of Le Bot.

Maj. Joseph Novellino of Paterson, New Jersey, told me about it today during an interlude in the advance toward Lessay.

The assault troops were lined up ready to hit the village. Maj. Novellino had delayed them temporarily while he prepared an order for a heavy artillery barrage to soften up any lingering Germans.

“I was going to shell the village because I didn’t want to sacrifice too many men,” the major explained.

At that moment, a black-frocked figure, wearing the broad-brimmed black hat of the parish priest, emerged from the village and walked swiftly toward the American lines. The priest begged Maj. Novellino not to shell the village, explaining the most of the Germans had fled and that the barrage would annihilate 35 civilians.

The major said:

As proof of his good faith, he volunteered to lead one of my companies in the assault on the town to back up his statement that the majority of the Germans had cleared out.

When our boys got in, they found about 35 civilians, who, when they heard of their deliverance from death by shellfire, knelt down in the town square and offered tanks to the Almighty.

Maj. Novellino said the priest, who had been a captain in the French Army, repeated the process in several other towns in cooperation with the French inhabitants. He said the French did not hesitate to recommend bombardment where the Germans still remained in force.

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americavotes1944

Maine delegation meets Governor Dewey

Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, refreshed after a weekend at his Pawling farm, today resumed conferences with Republican Congressional representatives on organization of his campaign for the Presidency.

The Governor outlined what he believes will be the major issues of the campaign to Maine Congressmen, including Republican Senate Minority Leader Wallace H. White and asked their cooperation in the drive against the Roosevelt administration.

Governor Dewey, it was learned, argued that by coordinating the campaign for President and Vice President with the drives of candidates for Congress, the Republican Party will win complete control of the national government.

It was reliably reported the Governor will refrain from making any major political moves until after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, except to announce the itinerary of his trip to the St. Louis Governors’ Convention.

Meanwhile, the Governor’s followers have made several direct appeals for support to Wendell L. Willkie without success. Mr. Willkie talked with some of the Congressmen who conferred with Mr. Dewey, but declined to give a clue as to what part he will play in the campaign.

Mr. Willkie told reporters:

I don’t want to say anything politically at this time. I don’t know when I will have anything to say.

8783

Allied Commandos raid Slav islands

By Astley Hawkins, representing combined Allied press

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8784

americavotes1944

Perkins: Independent union to do business with GOP and Democrats

Turndown for recognition by U.S. agencies leads them to work both sides of street
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Buffalo, New York –
A new labor complication appeared here today in the presidential campaign when the executive board of the Confederated Unions of America decided to go into politics on both sides of the fence to see what recognition they can get in governmental agencies for workers’ organizations not affiliated with the CIO or the AFL.

This followed the announcement by Donald F. Cameron, CUA secretary-treasurer, of the recipient of a copy of a letter by President Roosevelt denying the Independents’ demand for representation in War Labor Board membership, on the same basis as the AFL and CIO.

The confederation leaders, headed by Matthew Smith, under whose direction the Mechanics Educational Society closed down about 50 war plants last winter in strikes protesting what they called “official favoritism” for the CIO and AFL sent a telegram to Robert Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in Chicago, criticizing the President’s stand and asking that some attention be given to the controversy in the party platform.

Speak for three million

They also authorized negotiations with representatives of Governor Dewey, the Republican nominee, aimed at having that party take up the fight of the Independents.

Mr. Cameron said:

We speak directly for a membership of 700,000 and indirectly for more than three million members of independent unions which do not desire to be a part of the CIO or the AFL. In a democracy, these people are entitled to their choice of a union, and they are guaranteed the right under the National Labor Relations Act.

But when labor membership on the War Labor Board and other federal agencies dealing with labor questions is restricted to the organizations with which we are in competition, there is certainly a case of discrimination against the independent unions.

Mr. Roosevelt’s letter was addressed to Senator Elbert Thomas (D-UT), chairman of the Senate Education and Labor Committee, who presented the Independents’ plea after saying “these people have a cause the justice of which it is impossible to deny.”

Informed of hearings

The President’s letter said:

I am informed that the War Labor Board has held a series of conferences with representatives of some of the independent unions… and announced a five-point program intended to eliminate some of the disadvantages which independent unions have claimed to experience.

This program includes the designation of staff members at the National and Regional War Labor Boards to serve as liaison officers for independent unions and also provides that independent unions may have representation on tripartite dispute panels and on the sub-board committees which present cases to the national board for final determination.

The board also has reiterated its policy of equal treatment to all unions, whether affiliated or independent, and promised to take prompt and appropriate action whenever unfair organizing tactics based on the claim of preferred treatment are brought to its attention.

Record consistent

The President’s letter continued:

I am likewise informed that the board has found no evidence in its records of discriminatory treatment of cases of independent unions as compared with affiliated unions. Such a record is consistent with my designation of the labor members as individuals representing all labor, including workers in unaffiliated unions and workers not organized at all.

Under these circumstances I am not persuaded that any change in… the membership of the board is required at this time.

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americavotes1944

America Firsters to back Wheeler

Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Gerald L. K. Smith, self-styled “America First crusader,” predicted today that a meeting of nationalists he has called for tonight would go on record favoring Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) for the Democratic nomination for President.

Mr. Smith, who has organized his own America First Party in Michigan but is seeking to influence both the Democratic and Republican nominations and platforms, said that if the major parties fail to accede to nationalist demands, he will call a national convention of his organization in August.

Candidate goes voteless in own district

Salem, Massachusetts (UP) –
Ellsworth Y. Blenkhorn, a war worker, beaten, 936–21, for Republican Congressional nomination in Massachusetts’ 14th district, was considering demanding a recount. He’s sure he had more than 21 votes, he said. Returns from his own precincts showed 0. And he knows of at least two ballots cast for him – his own and his wife’s.